Saturday, October 31, 2015

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

First Division was strange, because it
appeared upside down – traditional favourites were at the bottom of
the table and weaker clubs at the top. Decline was not the only
reason, for some clubs were just unexpectedly lousy this season. And
as good as some of the former outsiders were in their own terms, none
was really emerging as a new powerhouse – more likely was
benefiting from the weakness of others, than building their own
strength. The newcomers to the league, or rather returnees, for both
new clubs had been first league members for years, performed at the
both ends at the scale: Vardar (Skopje) had excellent season and
finished 7th. Celik (Zenica) was the league's outsider,
below everybody else and sunk to the bottom, only to return back to
2nd division. The second relegated team fought to the end
lost the battle by a point – Osijek finished 17th, 7
points ahead of Celik, but unlucky.

Two clubs finished at the exact the
same positions they had the year before:

th
and

Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) was again 9

Rijeka – 10th. Maintaining
mid-table position was perhaps satisfying for both clubs at the
moment. One more club maintained its normal during the 1970s
position, but it was perilous one:

Olimpija (Ljubljana) played hide and
seek with relegation, concerned generally with escaping it and so far
survival by a hair: 16th in 1978-79, now – 15th,
but both years they finished just a point above relegation zone. This
was going on for years. If Olimpija stayed where they were, a group
of clubs was clearly in decline: Borac (Banja Luka), Vojvodina (Novi
Sad), and most alarmingly, Partizan (Belgrade). Of the three, only
Borac was familiar with the bottom end of the table – the other two
traditionally were near the top. Partizan was champion in 1977-78.
The league was fairly equal up to the 6th position in the
final table – 6 points divided Sloboda (Tuzla), 6th,
from Osijek, 17th, but the group of those fretting to the
end, desperately trying to keep their place in the league included
not only Olimpija, the three mentioned above, one more usual outsider
– Buducnost (Titograd), but, to a point, Rijeka, Zeljeznicta, Velez
(Mostar), and Dinamo (Zagreb). Different cases. Partizan (Belgrade)
experienced a crisis as never before: immediately after winning their
last title, they dropped 15th place, escaping relegation
by a single point. This season they moved two place up the table –
13th, finishing 3 points better than unlucky Osijek. But
they fooled no one: the team was fighting not for the title, but for
mere survival. They finished with 32 points and finished 13th
thanks, losing on goal-difference to Dinamo and lowly Buducnost.
Crvena zvezda fans surely enjoyed the suffering of the arch-enemy,
but the health of Partizan was to a point a measure of the health of
Yugoslavian football, so it was more than just club's crisis. Just
above them, edging Partizan only on better goal-difference, finished
Dinamo (Zagreb), which perhaps was even more puzzling, if not
alarming:

In the previous season Dinamo lost the
title only on goal-difference and were considered favourites, for the
club finally made a strong new team and were perhaps the most
promising side. Instead of winning the title, they struggled to stay
in the league... However, Dinamo was different than Partizan – in
their case, the weak season was due to the fact that the team was
still young and unstable. A momentary slip, yet, a very dangerous one
– and, hopefully, a good lesson for the talented bunch.

Similarly, although not to the same
frightening point, the other great Croatian club underperformed:
Hajduk (Split), the champions of 1978-79, underperformed a bit too
and finished 5th.

Hajduk had one of the strongest, if not
the best, squad in the country, but a certain tiredness was detected
after 1975 – a fate they shared with Velez (Mostar). No longer
improving, but rather maintaining their position, slowly moving down.
The usual difficult to judge situation, preventing the club from
taking big steps into rebuilding: key stars were around, leading the
club, solid players assisted them, and young talent was constantly
included. Tomislav Ivic was coaching them. Surjak and Muzinic were
the stars, famed from the last Yugoslavian appearance at World Cup
finals. But it was in 1974... and the stars had few teammates of the
same year still: Rozic, Luketin, and Salov. The next generation grew
up along the quartet of not old yet 'veterans' – Katalinic was a
prime representative, for he reached the national team, but in the
same time competition – Budimcevic – was elbowing him. And there
was the newest generation at hand: Zoran and Zlatko Vujovic, Ivan
Gudelj, Davor Cop. Something was not quite right... and few
experienced players were added: Boro Primorac from Velez (Mostar),
for instance. It was not like Hajduk – the traditional policy was
dependance on home grown talent, not on stars recruited from
elsewhere. A good team, yet, not at the level of the team of the
first half of the 1970s, when players like Salov and Luketin were
mere reserves, not key starters. Velez (Mostar) was in similar
position too.

Normally a lowly club,
Sloboda experienced a great period at the end of the 1970s – they
were 8th the prvious season, now they finished 6th.
A strong team by their measures, enforced by the former Hajduk
(Split) goalkeeper Rizah Meskovic, who returned from Holland, but
compared to Hajduk, the squad was very limited. Strong by local
measures, but on national scale rather taking advantage by the
weakness of others. Sloboda already moved to the upper part of the
table, so nothing really new – the big jump ahead was made by two
other traditionally lowly clubs: Napredak (Krusevac) and Radnicki
(Nis). They finished with 39 points each, so 3rd and 4th
place were decided by goal-difference.

Napredak was unlucky and
ended 4th, but what a season they had! The previous year
they were still fighting for survival and finished 14th,
safe only by a single point. This season they jumped 10 places
higher, losing bronze medals by chance.

Radnicki (Nis) clinched
3rd place, but they already moved up, so it was rather a
continuation of strong period. Strong period? This was their greatest
year in history – never before Radnicki got medals! Such
achievement usually stay forever in the memory of club and fans, but
apparently nobody thought this squad really capable of finishing that
high – there is not a single photo of it circulating today! A
season, surprising everybody, then... and not so great team, but
rather using fortunate circumstances. Radnicki managed to prolong
their good play, but the only great player they had was the
goalkeeper Dragan Pantelic, who was not stay for long with the club.

Pantelic was noticed not
only for his goalkeeping skills, but for his goals – with 7 goals,
he was the third scorer of Radnicki this season. At that time it was
highly unusual for keepers to score goals.

The up and coming teams
were not really strong – neither Sloboda, nor Radnicki, nor
Napredak – they had to enjoy their short success, grateful, if good
luck lasted a little longer (and clubs like Partizan remained in
shambles for a year or two).

At the end, there were
only two clubs competing for the title – if that is the word, for
the champions finished 7 points clear of the silver medalists.
Unusual season, indeed – one team had strong first half of the
championship and another – the second half. Inconsistency seemingly
ruled.

FK Sarajevo finished as
the leader at the end of the fall season. Not exactly a big surprise
– they had a good squad, led by arguably the best Yugoslavian
player at the moment, Safet Susic. Predrag Pasic was the second big
star, young and rapidly establishing himself as one of the very best.
There were also Faruk Hadzibegic, Zoran Lukic, Zelimir Vidovic, Haris
Smajic, perhaps a few more. Good squad, led by fantastic player, but
not a great squad and actually coming short in almost every line. Not
enough depth too - especially when compared to Crvena zvezda.
Sarajevo finished firt before the winter break, but in the spring
Crvena zvezda stepped on the pedal and quite easily left Sarajevo in
the dust.

19 wins, 10 ties, 5
losses, 54-26 goal-difference, 48 points and 13th title.
Familiar victor – Crvena zvezda. Not point even counting their
trophies, even when the number is fatal 13.

Good coach and studded
with national team players squad. Perhaps not as great as some
previous generations, but Crvena zvezda had most of the current
Yugoslavian stars at their peak – at the best age, vastly
experienced, well fitting together, coming from the best
international season of the club – they played at the UEFA Cup
final in the previous season. Most importantly, this was squad with
depth: Vladimir Petrovic was the leader and the great star, and
around him – Savic, Sestic, Djurovski, Krmpotic, Milosavljevic,
Jovin, Jurisic, Jovanovic (in the fall), Muslin, up and coming Repcic
and Filipovic. Well rounded team, competitive players, strong
reserves, the best squad at the moment. A bit sluggish in the fall,
they were flying in the spring. Inevitable foreign transfers
seemingly were not going to affect the team, because there were just
as good players behind the current stars and Crvena zvezda was always
able to get talent from other Yugoslavian clubs. Seemingly, supreme.

Monday, October 19, 2015

Saturday, October 17, 2015

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

The Soviet football season had two news
in 1980 – one was usual: yet another change of formula. The other
was kept successfully secret until the fall of USSR. The first
legally transferred player to Western club – it needs separate
narrative. As for the change, almost every year presented new rules
and compared to some, this time the change was minor: it concerned
only relegation/promotion between second and third division. Instead
of 6 clubs, at the end of the 1980 season three were going down and
three up. The reason was quite transparent: normally, the newcomers
from third level did not last in the second, often relegated right
away. They were obviously below the level of quality and reduction
apparently was to take care of that – smaller number should mean
more competitive ones. But second division was not reduced – it
remained 24-club strong, so fewer relegation spots automatically
meant increased comfort for the big number of clubs which were just
happy to stay in the league without any trouble and no big effort.
The reduction, however, changed the way clubs were promoted – so
far, they were the winners of the different zones of 3rd
Division. Now the winners were to play a final tournament for the
three spots: 9 clubs divided into 3 round-robin groups. Which meant
also restructuring of the third level – from 6 to 9 zonal groups,
which perhaps inflated further the numbers at the expense of quality.
At the end, to the finals emerged these clubs: Spartak (Kostroma),
Rotor (Volgograd), Lokomotiv (Samtredia) – in Group 1; Traktor
(Pavlodar), Dinamo (Samarkand), Torpedo (Toliati) – Group 2; SKA
(Kiev), Khimik (Grodno), Dinamo (Barnaul) – in Group 3. Some played
in second division before, but from those relegated in 1979 only
Traktor (Pavlodar) managed to get a new chance. The final
tournament produced outsiders and no real favourites. Predictably,
the teams from the non-Russian South-East were below the rest. The
third outsider was a relatively new club of which perhaps more was
expected because it was attached to the giant VAZ automobile plant.

None of the group winners was
particularly impressive and there was even a curiousity: Spartak
(Kostroma) lost its opening match in Volgograd 0-6. They won all
other matches and finished first, but with negative goal-difference –
a rare anomaly for a top finisher and quite telling too of the
general class of the candidates to play in second division: there was
no much. It will suffice to give only the final tables – winners
were promoted.

Group 1:

Spartak (Kostroma)
2 1 1 4-7 5

Rotor (Volgograd)
2 0 2 8-5 4

Lokomotiv (Samtredia)
1 1 2 4-4 3

Group 2:

Traktor (Pavlodar)
2 1 1 5-2 5

Dinamo (Samarkand)
2 1 1 7-4 5

Torpedo (Toliati)
1 0 3 3-9 2

Group 3:

SKA (Kiev)
2 2 0 8-5 6

Khimik (Grodno)
1 3 0 5-4 5

Dinamo (Barnaul)
0 1 3 3-7 1

Dinamo (Samarkand) was the unlucky team
– head-to-head matches with Traktor decided their fate and they
were placed 2nd. Traktor (Pavlodar) won promotion and had
a new chance to establish itself in 2nd Division after a
single year in 3rd division, but if there was any hope
placed on the newcomers, it was on SKA (Kiev) – they were familiar
with second level football, represented the dominant already
Ukrainian football, and as an Army club had much better chances of
recruiting better players than Traktor and Spartak. It all depended
on the not very well known in the West structuring of Soviet sport:
SKA belonged to the Army organization, so the 'mother organization'
would make sure to strengthened them. Spartak belonged to the
trade-union organization and also would be helped by the centre.
Traktor was on its own. So much for the newly promoted... Soviet
press did not bother with them, except for mentioning that SKA was
solid and confident from start to end.

Saturday, October 3, 2015

About Me

I am Vesselin Vesselinov, born in Bulgaria and living in Canada. Football is my hobby since childhood – not the most important part of my life, but lifelong addiction nevertheless. Playing, watching, talking and collecting football. Now I am sharing my addiction with you. Hope you enjoy it.